At 56 years of age John Radich has run across the continental United States, from from Santa Monica, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey, in a little over four and a half months. He ran from 35 to 40 miles each day. From the age of sixteen, when he was on his high school track team, John has dreamed of running across the United States. And now, forty years later, he has done it! In New Mexico he made a ”side trip” with a running friend, climbing 11,305 ft (3,446 m) Mt. Taylor. The Philadelphia marathon was taking place when John arrived in that historic city, so he ran the marathon for fun before continuing on to Atlantic City. He is an nine-time veteran of the grueling Badwater run across Death Valley in the middle of summer, has run from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia, and has participated in numerous ultra-marathon events in various countries. (NOTE July 2013: John has just completed his 12th Badwater race - left.) Decades of running in the western United States have made him very knowledgable about the splendid wilderness areas of the far west, as well as survival techniques needed to endure the freezing temperatures, snow and ice of the mountains and the ferocity of the heat in the deserts. (After one crossing of Death Valley, John continued to the summit of Mt. Whitney, and then on hundreds of miles to Yosemite along the John Muir Trail.) John has been the intrepid guide for the present writer (his brother) to the summits of Mts. Baldy, San Gorgonio and San Jacinto in southern California. He knows these mountains and valleys with the expertise of a 19th-century trapper, and knows the metropolitain labyrinth of Los Angeles and environs, where he grew up, with equal expertise, whether the San Gabriel Freeway in Los Angeles or the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevadas. John Radich is a long-time resident of Monrovia, California. (John Radich's Trans USA blog)